Marquez who at 40 years of age should be doing what many boxers of his caliber do - enjoying retirement and waiting for the Hall of Fame to come calling.

But the “Dinamita” from Mexico City has some other plans. One of those was an attempt to be the first Mexican to win five division titles. And he thought he could do just that by challenging the WBO Welterweight champion, Bradley.

Bradley of course would have none of those plans.

Tonight at the Thomas and Mack Center inside the UNLV campus, Bradley showed his mastery over Marquez by using his feet to dance away from the stinging counter punches that made Marquez quite famous for, the most memorable of course was the counter right hand that dropped the Filipino boxing icon, Manny Pacquiao.

The younger Bradley used the ring effectively throwing punches ahead of Marquez and then dancing away from the counter punches. He effectively stayed away from the mid ring exchanges which when they happened almost always made Marquez looked good.

But the said exchanges were far and in between.

Marquez tried his best to come back in the later rounds but his efforts were all for naught. It was too late to make up the deficit. In the last few seconds of the last round Marquez threw caution to the wind and tried to get to Bradley. But it was Bradley who landed a clear right that made Marquez do the chicken dance as he was thrown backwards trying to keep his balance. Luckily, he did not fall.

With that, it was clear that Bradley had his win, albeit it was a very close one. The judge’s scores were: 115-113, 116-112 and 113-115 giving Bradley a split decision win.

Orlando Cruz crumpled to the canvas after Orlando Salido (L) broked him down.

In the battle that drew wide social significance owing to the fact that one of the fighters flaunted his sexual orientation, Orlando Salido (40-12-2, 27KO) of Ciudad Obregon, Mexico knocked out self-profess gay boxer Orlando Cruz (20-3-1, 10KO) of Hato Rey, Puerto Rico. The end came at 1:05 of round 7. Cruz who was slow and appeared flat-footed and did not have the right stuff to beat Salido. But his presence in the ring made the evening more interesting with many wanting to see how the first openly gay boxer will fare in a title fight. With the win Salido annexed the WBO Featherweight title.

Lomachenko waits in the neutral corner as the referee administers the count on the fallen Ramirez.

Vasyl Lomachenko of Odessa, Ukraine made an impressive “pro debut” in the USA with a fourth round TKO over an experienced but over-matched Jose Ramirez (24-3-2,15KO) of Mexicali, Mexico

Lomachenko dropped Ramirez in the very first round with a great body shot that caused a delayed reaction from Ramirez. Although Ramirez beat the count, it was clear that his experiences as a pro are nothing compared to the more than 300 amateur fights of Lomachenko including two Olympic gold medals and 6 ”semi-pro” fights. Another body shot in round four ended the fight for Lomachenko. Time: 2:59. Lomachenko won the WBO International Featherweight belt.

Monaghan vs Smith.

In the first televised fight for the night, Sean Monaghan (19-0-0, 12KO) of Long Beach, New York scored a third round stoppage over the very game Anthony Smith (14-2-0,10KO) of Kenneth Square, PA. Monahan caught Smith on the ropes and he started throwing hay makers from all direction which Smith failed to defend against. Seeing the situation referee Tony Weeks waived off the fight at 2:39 of round 3.